'Almost cartoonish': Expert says 'Trumpy style' of MAGA women about 'signaling allegiance'

30 May

Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. (screengranb, Fox News)

Many fashion critics suggest that men and women aligned with President Donald Trump's ideology tend to embrace a distinct style.

In a report published Friday, the New York Times noted that Trump along with his close advisers and family members, plunged into the traditionally subdued world of government attire with a bold and unwavering aesthetic.

The fashion choices of key Make America Great Again (MAGA) figures: makeup, and even physical appearances have followed a clearly defined and attention-grabbing theme, the report notes.

If fashion serves as a form of expression, and politics is deeply rooted in messaging, then the emergence of a distinct "MAGA look" during Trump’s second term is a cultural shift worth paying attention to, the piece argues.

Vanessa Friedman, The Times’s fashion critic, weighed in on the MAGA world's style and fashion.

When asked by reporter Jess Bidgood what the "key elements of MAGA beauty" are, she said it "encompasses Mar-a-Lago face and conservative girl makeup — plays up classically feminine features to an almost cartoonish degree, thus underscoring a retrograde gendered paradigm."

"Think long, blow-dried, bouncy Breck girl hair; false eyelashes and lots of mascara; plumped lips; and, often, filler in the cheeks. Fashion is there to essentially reinforce that proposition. Hence the figure-hugging sheath dress and high heels," she added.

Friedman noted that during Trump’s first term, several fashion designers were vocal about refusing to style Melania Trump. However, in his second term, the fashion and beauty industry seems to be taking a more muted, hands-off approach — largely avoiding public statements and opting for neutrality.

Bidgood then asked, "There is an important distinction between the style we see in Trump’s world — his close aides, his social circle, the people who frequent Mar-a-Lago — and the style that his followers have embraced at Trump rallies or gatherings like CPAC, where people wear themed T-shirts or fake Trump hair. How do you think about those differences?"

"I think of it as the difference between dressing to be a member of a private club and dressing to be a member of the larger community. In both cases, however, it’s about belonging and signaling allegiance," Friedman responded.

When asked if the "Trumpy style" sends a political message, she said: "What’s so effective and powerful about these choices is that they serve as representations of many of Trump’s positions, be it the two-gender executive order or his relentless claim that he loves the country so much and is the only one who can make America great again."

"See something often enough, and it sinks into your subconscious without your even realizing it, and before you know it a Pavlovian call-and-response situation has been created in your lizard brain. Thinking a suit or a hairdo is simply about beauty or fashion is to miss the strategic role that image now plays in shaping opinion," Fiedman added.

From Your Site Articles